A motion was made by Mr. Smith to accept the November 3, 2016 minutes, seconded by Mrs. Wilson; all in favor, motion carried.

TRASURER’S REPORT AND DISBURSEMENTS:

Balances are current as of November 14, 2016 and disbursements are from October 14, 2016 to November 17, 2016. General Fund $123, 304.84; Refuse $102,700.73, Recycling $19,861.11, Dept. of Hwy (Liquid Fuels) $25,254.74. Deposits $107,361.72 and Disbursements (including payroll & tax anticipation loan pay off in the amount of $101,323.41) $189,339.40. Mr. Kulick said there is an additional $10,000 in change orders added on to the paving project. Mr. Markey said it was not in the original specs and was not brought to council. A motion was made Mr. Markey and seconded by Mr. Napoli to pay all bills listed; not including paying the paving loan. All in favor, motion carried. Mr. Kulick said we will not authorize paying the change orders until we get KBA to explain the change orders to us.

Mr. Markey suggested going back and amending his previous motion to pay the bills. He read aloud KBA invoices. Mr. Markey made a motion amending the previous motion to pay the bills listed and to exclude the three invoices from KBA until we receive further clarification; motion seconded by Mr. Napoli; all in favor, motion carried.

MAYOR REPORT:

There are a total of 882 police calls of service. Mayor Smallacombe said they are very active and the police are doing a very good job. There are three HD Video Audio recorders that we are going to donate to the police department. Mayor Smallacombe said they are a good idea to have in our police cars when pulling people over. One was donated by the Mayor and Wegmans donated two more, they donated a gift card to pay for the ones they donated and there is a balance on the gift card and it will be used on supplies for the Crime Watch. Mayor Smallacombe encourages residents to keep their vehicles locked.

EVENTS:

Events Committee will have their annual dinner March 4th at the Artisan. The Girls Scouts parade will be on December 10th and the Christmas Concert December 11th.

Mr. Markey said District Attorney Scanlon will be here for the Crime Watch reorganization meeting.

POLICE REPORT:

Chief Arthur thanked Mayor Smallacombe for the donation to the police department. UGI was cited for not obtaining a Pave Cut Permit before working on Franklin St. He spoke to the foreman and told them about the pave cut permit ordinance. Chief Arthur also cited a resident on the 700 block of Madison. Residents moved out of their house and left all their garbage on the property. They served a felony firearms warrant on Washington Ave. it was a warrant out of another jurisdiction. The police department had heavy patrols out on Halloween night and mischief night. Chief Arthur thanked the fire police for conducting traffic patrol. Chief Arthur was happy to report there were no major issues for Halloween.

The spree of juveniles tipping birdbaths was arrested and they were issued fines and quite a bit of community service. The person who broke into the fieldhouse and stole the register was arrested and was ordered to pay restitution for the damage and the items that were taken; in addition to fines and community service.

They attended the Veteran’s Day Ceremony and did traffic control for the Veteran’s Day Bike Ride that came through town. There was also drug panel discussion at the high school that the police had attended.

SOLICITOR REPORT

Atty. Moran said they prepared the resolutions that were requested and approved. They were sent to the Carbondale News for publication. Atty. Moran said he will review the contract for the paving company. In the contract the owner’s representative is Mr. Grizzanti from KBA. Mr. Markey asked if he had a chance to look at the ordinance if the fire co. can charge the insurance companies for services when they are called out for a property/casualty loss. They will not go after the home owner or take further action if the claim is denied by the insurance company. Atty. Moran said he will bring a draft in for next meeting. If both companies respond Mr. Markey suggested the money received be put into the Fireman’s Relief Fund.

Archbald Garbage Pickup: Atty. Moran said they want to maintain the status quo. The understanding is there was a longstanding/unwritten agreement between Jermyn and Archbald. Archbald picks up a handful of homes in the Nebraska Section and Jermyn picks up on Evergreen. Their solicitor is going to look into it.

Police Healthcare/Life Insurance: Atty. Moran said there is a specific provision that talks about an obligation to make specific payments for retired employee’s life insurance. Atty. Moran said he will do more research on this.

FIRE CHIEF:

Mr. Rood said they passed the fireman’s relief audit. He is still working on four projects for the code enforcement. One is still waiting for a design to come back on what he is going to do at the property.

Mr. Kulick said we should send a letter to Mr. Chase and KBA to let us know what meetings they can attend and wants it required for them to attend one meeting each month.

JUNIOR COUNCIL:

Dylan Reeves asked council if Evan Samuelson; our second junior council member effective January 2017 can attend the December council meetings. Council said yes.

FINANCE COMMITTEE:

Mr. Smith thanked Mr. Markey and Mrs. Wilson. They met many of times throughout the past six months.

Admin General Gov.: $406,082.00

DPW: $165,145

Public Safety: $242,318.00

Public Safety – Fire: $34,090.00

Recreation / Shade Tree: $6,400.00

Total 2017 Projected Expenditures $ 854,035.00

Projected 2017 Revenues $ 757,235.00

Budget Adjustments $113,520.00.

Balance of $16,720.00

Drop 1 mil and decrease garbage fee by $20= $ 7,139.00 left in budget

Mr. Smith made the recommendation to drop the taxes by 1 mill. With the balance of the budget they will start an account that will be strictly used for the creek project. Mr. Smith said they will be reviewing the budget quarterly to make sure they are on par as to where they want to be. Mr. Markey said it is very hard to forecast fines, permits and other fees; they are not included in the budget because they are almost impossible to forecast, we hope our revenues will surpass this.

Mr. Markey thanked Mr. Smith and Mrs. Wilson. He said one of the big take aways; at least for 2017 the residents are starting to see improvements in the town; new roads, street signs and repaired equipment. He said they had to take the last three years of reported revenues and average them out to try and forecast 2017.

Mrs. Wilson commended the Finance Committee; the three of them worked very hard. Mrs. Wilson said they put money into the Rushbrook Creek Project in an account that will be setup. She said she hopes the residents of Jermyn realize they are continuing to contact people, our solicitor will be working; we want to get that creek done. Mr. Rood commented that the people that do not come here do not realize what you have accomplished; they do not see anything behind the scenes. Atty. Moran said that is the point of having the press here; this council has been working very hard and very few people are here to see it and appreciate it.

A motion was made by Mrs. Wilson and seconded by Mr. Markey to accept the tentative budget as presented by the finance chairman; Mr. Smith. All in favor; motion carried. Mr. Kulick thanked the Finance Committee for their great work.

SAFETY:

Mr. Napoli said they received 5 applicants for the full time police officer position. Mr. Napoli, Mr. Parks, Mayor Smallacombe & Mr. Smith will get together and do interviews. They will make a recommendation for the first December meeting. All applicants are internal.

RECREATION/SHADE TREE:

Mrs. Wilson said there is a resignation letter from Kyra Davey. A motion was made by Mr. Markey and seconded by Mr. Smith to accept Kyra Davey’s letter of resignation from the recreation commission; with regret. All in favor; motion carried.

Mrs. Wilson read aloud a letter to allow parking of vehicles at the community center for the two Christmas events. A motion was made by Mr. Smith and seconded by Mr. Napoli to approve the requests of the Shade Tree Commission for parking on Nov 28th and December 3rd in the borough parking lot. All in favor; motion carried.

December 3, 2016 will be a 3 ½ tour of Christmas Lights- cost is $95.00/ person

Mrs. Wilson read aloud a letter to request Paul & Laureen Pidgeon on the Shade Tree Commission. A motion was made by Mr. Napoli and seconded by Mr. Markey to appoint Mr. Paul Pidgeon and Mrs. Laureen Pidgeon as new members of the Jermyn Shade Tree Commission. All in favor; motion carried.

Mrs. Wilson said County Waste is not picking up the garbage cans that the Event Committee purchased for the Borough; one is in front of Sterling Pharmacy, Windsor and Debbie’s Flowers. Mr. Markey said he will call County Waste to ask them to empty those three garbage receptacles.

Mrs. Wilson said she talked to the DPW about removing the air conditioners in council chambers. They suggested putting the small block windows in place of the AC units. The windows will be insulated.

Mr. Chris Jordan from Recreation presented council and said they will have the Christmas movie on December 17th 2016. At 5:30 p.m. they will start to serve hot chocolate & cookies; free of charge. The movie will start at 6:00 p.m. Santa Claus will also be there.

The Recreation meetings will be the first Thursday of every month at 7:00 p.m. at the Community Center.

Mr. Jordan said they would like to purchase a sound system. Mayor Smallacombe said there is a sound system the Events Committee has that they can use.

A motion was made by Mr. Napoli and seconded by Mr. Markey to remove Matt Parry and Chris Stefalo from the Recreation Commission. All in favor; motion carried.

A motion was made to appoint Christina Jordan and Joe Ambrosia to the Jermyn Recreation Commission. Motion carried.

On behalf of Council; Mr. Napoli thanked Mr. Jordan.

DPW Report by Mr. Markey:

Davis Court:Davis Court is still not functioning properly after Archbald DPW came through with their jetter. We believe UGI may have damaged some storm pipes when they were working. Solicitor Moran will send a letter to UGI to ask them to come and remedy any damage caused by them.

Home on 700 Block of Lincoln:There is a residence on the 700 block of Lincoln that is taking on water running downhill on the street from Mayfield. KBA has taken a look at this, but we still need to devise a solution.

Trucks on Bridge St.: Once ordinance to allow signs for trucks to use Bonnie Drive is ready, we need to approach PennDot to request permission since each requested sign will be placed on a state road.

Drains By 402 Delaware St: This item is still outstanding, but we will make sure to get this completed shortly. They received approval from the fire co.

Lane St: This will be filled with millings and rolled in the springtime.

Old Mill Road: The parts that have been milled have been filled with 4B stone for now until the springtime, in which we will fill with asphalt. There are a lot of residents on Old Mill Rd. who are upset with the road.

The letter stated the construction company left behind rocks, mounds of dirt and destroyed property. The brush and weeds have grown through their fence. They can no longer use their side or back gates due to this mess. Years ago the resident approached Jermyn Borough officials in reference to this problem and their response was to send workers out once or twice during the summer to weed whack the small area from the road up to the corner where the fence begins. Mr. Markey said he does not know if this is our responsibility. Mr. Mark said it is privately owned property. Mr. Mark said to make sure that area is in Jermyn. Mayor Smallacombe said anything that is in Jermyn we can cite them for weeds, the property owner is responsible for controlling the weeds; whether it is undeveloped or not. Mayor Smallacombe said you cannot have the weeds growing through someone’s fence. Mr. Markey will let the resident know that it is private property.

Plow Schedule: Mr. Markey said the plow schedule was distributed to all DPW personnel and police. He would like to establish an on call pay for DPW employees for the winter weather months. Mr. Markey said he came up with the plow schedule because it is not fair to the two full time employees during the winter to be handcuffed to Jermyn. He brought in the part timers and made up a 3 week rotation. Mr. Markey proposed a $50/ per week pay per DPW employee (that is on call that week) while the plow schedule is in effect. From beginning of November to the end of March it comes out to $1650.00 and there is more than enough money in the 2016 part time DPW budget to pay for 2016 and 2017 without dipping into the 2017 budget. A motion was made by Mr. Smith and seconded by Mrs. Wilson to authorize the payment of $50 per week per DPW employee who is on call that week from November to March. All in favor; motion carried.

Mr. Markey said before we list the DPW garage up for sale; we have someone who is privately interested in a purchase. Mr. Smith said the money realized from the sale of the DPW garage will be used to help fund any type of project that we do for building something or buying land for the DPW. It is in the best interest of the borough and fairness to the citizens that we do not give it away and try to sell it because we are going to be responsible for building something and any money realized in the sale will help us with the cost.

We received a $100.00 donation from Bottler’s towards the next newsletter. Mr. Markey said this will help offset the costs.

Mr. Markey said a few years the borough agreed to switch the phones to Vonage. Council voted to switch the phones to Vonage and later on it was redacted by the Borough Manager without the support of Council.

UPDATE ON CREEK PROJECT:

Jonathan Conville from DEP will be here on Thursday January 12, 2017 at 7:00 p.m. to give an update on the Rushbrook Creek Project.

PPL LED CONVERSION:

The upfront cost to convert all lights to LED will be $3,180. Mr. Mark suggested calling other Boroughs who recently converted and ask how they did it.

AUDIT:

An accountant will be in the borough office next week to work on the exit audit.

Mayor Smallacombe thanked all those who came out to the Veteran’s Day Ceremony and also thanked all Veteran’s for their service.

A motion was made by Mr. Napoli and seconded by Mrs. Wilson to adjourn the meeting at 10:00 p.m. All in favor; motion carried.